Arnold Ira Davidson (born 1955) is an American philosopher and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, and the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor in

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Comparative Literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

History of Science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

, and

Philosophy of Religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

.Arnold Davidson
, University of Chicago, retrieved 2011-07-10 He is also a member of the Committee on the Conceptual Foundations of Science at Chicago and a professor at the Università di Pisa in Pisa, Italy.

Education and career

Davidson holds a Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, where he wrote a dissertation under the supervision of

John Rawls John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral philosophy, moral, legal philosophy, legal and Political philosophy, political philosopher in the Modern liberalism in the United States, modern liberal tradit ...

and

Stanley Cavell Stanley Louis Cavell (; September 1, 1926 – June 19, 2018) was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, ...

. He taught at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1981 to 1985, apart from a year as a visiting assistant professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1984–85. He joined the

faculty in 1986. Davidson, who often speaks and teaches at French and Italian universities, has been a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin as well as visiting professor, chaire d'Etat, at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

. He is also the executive editor of the journal '' Critical Inquiry''. Davidson was also a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

recipient in 2003.

Philosophical work

Davidson's scholarship concentrates in

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

continental philosophy Continental philosophy is a group of philosophies prominent in 20th-century continental Europe that derive from a broadly Kantianism, Kantian tradition.Continental philosophers usually identify such conditions with the transcendental subject or ...

moral philosophy Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied et ...

, the history of

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

, and

historical epistemology French philosophy, here taken to mean philosophy in the French language, has been extremely diverse and has influenced Western philosophy as a whole for centuries, from the medieval scholasticism of Peter Abelard, through the founding of modern ...

, and the history of the human sciences. His publications (books, articles and essays) cover a wide array of ranging from the

Emmanuel Levinas Emmanuel Levinas (born Emanuelis Levinas ; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the rel ...

, Vladimir Jankélévitch, and Pierre Hadot, to

Georges Canguilhem Georges Canguilhem (; ; 4 June 1904 – 11 September 1995) was a French philosopher and physician who specialized in epistemology and the philosophy of science (in particular, philosophy of biology, biology). Life and work Canguilhem entered t ...

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

. Many of Davidson's publications are written in French and Italian and published by European presses. Much of Davidson's scholarship focuses on the theory of

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

. Davidson is the editor of several books on or by Foucault including: ''Foucault and His Interlocutors'', ''Society Must Be Defended'', ''Abnormal'', and ''The Hermeneutics of the Subject''. In Davidson's most recent book, ''The Emergence of Sexuality: Historical Epistemology and the Formation of Concepts'', he applies and develops Foucauldian archeological and

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

methodological innovations in the development of a method he calls "Historical Epistemology". This work consists of essays on

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

, the history of sexuality and scientific concepts, and the interpretation of Foucault.

Bibliography

* A. I. Davidson: ''L'Emergence de la sexualité; épistémologie historique et formation des concepts''; Albin Michel, 2005. * A. I. Davidson: ''The Emergence of Sexuality: Historical Epistemology and the Formation of Concepts''; Paperback, 2004. * A. I. Davidson: ''La aparición de la sexualidad''; Alpha Decay, 2004. * A. I. Davidson: ''Foucault and His Interlocutors''; Paperback, 1998. * M. Foucault, A. I. Davidson, G. Burchell: ''Psychiatric Power: Lectures at the Collège de France 1973–1974''; Hardcover, 2006. * M. Foucault, A. I. Davidson, G. Burchell: ''The Hermeneutics of the Subject: Lectures at the Collège de France 1981–1982''; Paperback, 2005. * M. Foucault, A. I. Davidson: ''Abnormal: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1974–1975''; Hardcover, 2003. * W. J. T. Mitchell, A. I. Davidson: ''The late Derrida''; Paperback, 2007. * J. Chandler, A. I. Davidson, H. D. Harootunian: ''Questions of Evidence: Proof, Practice, and Persuasion across the Disciplines''; Paperback, 1994. * P. Hadot, A. I. Davidson: ''Philosophy As a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault''; Hardcover, 1995.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Arnold 1955 births 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers Continental philosophers Derrida scholars Foucault scholars Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Living people Stanford University faculty University of Chicago faculty Academic staff of the University of Pisa